TEANECK, N.J. -- One year. That's it. That's all colleges will get from O.J. Mayo.
He said he's 36 months away from the NBA. He has it down to months, not years.
So whichever school is planning on recruiting him, better build a team ready to make a run at a national title -- and have room for two of his friends. One of them, North College Hill (Ohio) High's Bill Walker, may be in the mix for 2008 early entry as well. Who knows their teammate Keenan Ellis could be, too.
Mayo said the three of them, all rising juniors at the same high school, want to attend the same college. According to Scout.com, it certainly would be as big a windfall as Ohio State got with Lawrence North (Indianapolis) teammates Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. Oden is the top player in the class of 2006 and Conley is in the top 15. Fellow Buckeye commitment and AAU teammate Daequan Cook of Dayton Dunbar High is in the top 10, while David Lighty of Villa Angela-St. Joseph High in Cleveland isn't too far behind Conley.
According to Scout.com, the 6-foot-4 Mayo is the class of 2007's No. 1 player, the 6-5 Walker is rated No. 5 and the 6-10 Ellis is rated No. 11.
"I'm totally open," Mayo said Friday afternoon at the Reebok ABCD Camp. "I'm going to school. Our plan is to go together, most definitely a package deal."
Scout.com lists 14 schools for Mayo, including in-state schools Ohio State and Cincinnati. Mayo declined to give a list, so it's clearly too early to start projecting who could grab him and his teammates.
"Big East, ACC, SEC, Big 12, we've talked about this since sixth grade," Mayo said. "We've talked about me, Bill and Keenan being in the same place."
Mayo would likely be going straight to the NBA if it weren't for the new minimum requirement rule that was agreed to by the NBA and its players' union. The new rule, beginning in 2006, states that a player must be 19 years old in his draft year and one year out of high school to be eligible for the NBA. Mayo would be 19 when he finishes high school but still has to wait a year to go to the draft.
"Money is going to be there regardless if it's this year or next year," Mayo said. "I don't want to become a selfish player and don't want to hold out on [Walker and Ellis] for a couple of dollars. My dream is to go somewhere together and win a national title.
"Thirty-six months. That's how I look at it. I've been waiting since I was a little kid and my dream is to go to the NBA, but I'll be humble and work hard."
Don't think for a second that schools will pass on Mayo and Co., because they're worried about him only being around for one year. Remember Carmelo Anthony? Last time we checked, he won a national title in one year at Syracuse.
Mayo said Anthony went into a good situation with Gerry McNamara (a freshman at the time) and Hakim Warrick (a sophomore) when the Orange won the 2003 title.
So how should schools recruit him? Former Cal coach Todd Bozeman, who was Mayo's coach at ABCD, said schools should recruit him with a backup plan in mind.
There are rumblings of some sneaker company coming through with a major deal for Mayo to allow him to go to the NBDL or prep school or overseas to pass the time before he would become draft eligible. But that doesn't seem to interest Mayo.
The D league?
"I don't know about the D league, I couldn't name two teams," Mayo said. "I saw a few episodes on TV once. I know it's a league of guys trying to make it to the NBA. I don't know anything about the D league. I didn't even know they had an age limit. No one talks about the D league in high school."
Mayo said he has no idea what to expect in his recruitment. He said he should be recruited like anyone else. But he won't be. He has to know that. This is new territory for college coaches. They know if they can grab him and his teammates, if that's really the case, then they could potentially compete nationally. We'll see how the possibility of the one-year Oden run at Ohio State turns out in 2006-07. Mayo's turn will come the following year.
Let the recruitment begin. It should be an entertaining watch, if not one of the most hyped we've seen recently in the sport. We knew LeBron James wasn't going to school. The same was true of Dwight Howard. Now we're back to the big-time recruiting game, even if the players are only staying for a year.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.